What do you get when you cross Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Jack the Ripper? A really badass idea that I can’t wait to check out. Dark Horse comics presents The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde #1 written by Cole Haddon with art by M.S. Corley, both newcomers to the business. Over on the Dark Horse blog, Haddon says the book started as “a homage to Hammer horror” and quickly turned into “a love song to the whole of the gothic horror… from silent horror movies, to Universal’s monster movies and producer Val Lewton’s horror oeuvre, to directors Tod Browning and John Brahm, to Mario Bava’s terrifying and often twisted works.” Personally I’m a huge fan of classic horror movies and monsters and it is really nice to see a throw back to those times and themes.

Here is Dark Horse’s official description of the first issue of the series:

Sometimes good police work just isn’t enough, as Inspector Thomas Adye of Scotland Yard finds out when he’s assigned to the Jack the Ripper case. He’ll need the guidance of imprisoned madman and amoral libertine, Dr. Henry Jekyll, whose mind-splitting serum Jack might be using to commit his bloody murders. Part 1 of Hyde sets in motion events that will pit London’s two greatest monsters against one another. Will Adye — and his soul — survive intact?

Guillermo Del Toro is one of the busiest directors alive, so much so that Variety reports that he is booked through at least 2017. His line up of films includes the “Lord of the Rings” prequel “The Hobbit”, remakes of such classic films as “Frankenstein”, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, and “Slaughterhouse-Five”, an adaptation of the novel “Drood” and H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness”, and hopefully… “Hellboy 3”.

“We laid the groundwork to have a magnificent third act,” the acclaimed director told the publication, who also went on to reveal that “the studio is interested and may work with del Toro to add a TV series and online segments to broaden the following before making the series finale.”

Hopefully they will also continue to make animated films, following on the successful DTV releases of “The Phantom Claw”, “Blood and Iron”, “Sword of Storms”, and video games; “Hellboy: The Science of Evil” was released at the end of June and featured all of the cast members from the films.

That would give us a wide variety of “Hellboy” content over the next dozen years, including a TV series, online shorts, animated films, video games, and the end of the film trilogy. And I for one, could not be happier.